A FORMER elite soldier from the crack assassination squad that killed Osama bin Laden has described the moment he claims he pulled the trigger and blew open the terror chief’s head.

Ex-Navy SEAL Robert O'Neill says he killed 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden and has written a detailed account of how he slayed the al-Qaeda leader.

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Rob O'Neill during his Navy Seal daysCredit: Internet

In his new book, The Operator, O'Neill paints a macabre picture of bin Laden's head cracking open after being shot.

And he claimed it had to be pressed back together for identification photos.

Recalling the moment he fired the killer shots, he said: "He had a woman in front of him, his hands on her shoulders.

“In less than a second, I aimed above the woman’s right shoulder and pulled the trigger twice.

“Bin Laden’s head split open and he dropped.

"I put another bullet in his head. Insurance.”

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Osama bin Laden had been hunted for 10 years before US spies finally tracked him down and sent in the Navy Seals to kill himCredit: Getty Images

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The compound where bin Laden, the leader of terrorist network Al-Qaeda was killed by US military forcesCredit: EPA

In an exclusive extract from Robert O'Neill's book in the Mirror, O’Neill describes the tense moment when his team of professional killers were dropped by helicopter and crept over to the terror chief’s secret compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan in May of 2011.

Once they entered he describes trailing at least five other Navy SEALs up the stairs to the second floor.

They believed this was where bin Laden, three of his four wives and 17 of his children were holed up.

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